


a thousand stars burning for us

by water_poet



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Alternate Beach Scene, Canonical Character Death, F/M, First Kiss, Flashbacks, Hugs, Last Kiss, Minor Cassian Andor/Jyn Erso, Not A Fix-It, Rogue One Spoilers, Short One Shot, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-29
Updated: 2016-12-29
Packaged: 2018-09-13 05:24:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9108358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/water_poet/pseuds/water_poet
Summary: "Why do the stars fall, daddy?""When a star falls, a great hero has passed into the Force. That is why I call you stardust. You are made of great things"





	

**Author's Note:**

> *barges into the Rogue One fandom sobbing hysterically*  
> Am I late? Yes? Very? Have a totally original oneshot then!
> 
> Dear Lord, this film. Go see it if you haven't already. My take on that infamous scene.

Jyn Erso was not afraid of death

It was hard to be afraid of death when you'd spent your days in fear of living.

And just her luck, as soon as she had a reason to live, a shining moment of peace and happiness in a life so short of it, it was snatched away.

Just her luck.

When she was a child, on rare nights when the skies were clear and the air was clean and damp, she would lay in the dirt and stare up at the sky in wonder as the universe danced in her bright green eyes. She would trace lines between the pinpricks of light with her chubby hands, and for once, feel bigger than herself.

_"Why do the stars fall, daddy?"_

_"When a star falls, a great hero has passed into the Force. That is why I call you stardust. You are made of great things"_

She knows now he was lying, that shooting stars are nothing more than burning hunks of rock tumbling through space, reaching the end of a cold, lonely existence.

But she cannot help wondering if, in some far off place, another child is looking up at the sky and watching the stars rain down like water, millions upon millions of heroic lives fading into the endlessness of space.

He is still holding her close, and she can feel the hot air whipping across her skin. She can smell sweat and dirt and worn leather and burning metal. She can smell _him_ , and she decides this cannot be such a bad way to die.

He pulls back and looks at her, and she can see their lives reflected in his sad, tired eyes. Tears trace down his cheeks, glinting golden in the oncoming light. 

He whispers her name and the universe crumbles around her.

His lips are on hers and she tastes infinity, every breath and gunshot and fire and flood dissolved into a warmth in her chest and a fraction of a second.

She lives again in that second.

And Jyn Erso was not afraid to die.

* * *

_Somewhere, many lightyears away, wondering eyes gazed at the sky as the stars began to fall_


End file.
